TeamSpec Skins - Explained in Detail

sduchin — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 23:26:00 GMT

Skins are the most asked about feature in TeamSpec. They are also one of the most overarching and powerful tools that TeamSpec offers. In this post I will discuss what skins are, why skins are useful, and how to use them.

What is a skin?

A skin is an ordered, textual representation of a single work item. When TeamSpec brings a work item into a Word document with a skin, the skin designates which fields of the work item are referenced and how those values are organized. A skin will always arrange a work item’s pertinent information in a table or a list. You can add more work items, formatted with their own skins, into the table or list to create an ordered presentation of work items. In this way, TeamSpec creates documents that are ideal for project management and analysis. And, because the work item references are connected to the Team Foundation Server, you can update your document with changes made on the server or publish changes you make in your document to the server.

Default Skins

TeamSpec ships with a handful of default skins. These defaults skins all have descriptive names like “Numbered List Item (Title – AssignedTo).” The first half of the name describes how the information is formatted, in this case as a numbered list item. The second half of the name lists which field’s values will be referenced in your document. So, bringing a work item into your document with the “Numbered List Item (Title – AssignedTo)” skin will create a numbered list node with the title of the work item and a node with the name of the person the work item is assigned to.

You can add another work item to the list by striking enter at the last line to open a new empty node on the list.

Then add the next work item you want in your document using the same type of skin. TeamSpec will automatically integrate the new information into the list.

If you use a different type of skin, however, the new work item will be imported as the first node in a new list.

Creating Skins

The default skins are useful, but TeamSpec becomes especially powerful when you create your own skins. That way you can tailor the organization of your work items to the needs of your specific document. To begin, load the first work item you want to add to your document to the canvas. Now, by dragging and dropping from the canvas, add the information from the work item in the layout that you want the skin to have. For example, say we want to create a new skin that is a bulleted list containing the work item’s title, description, work item type, and state. I start a bulleted list in in word and then drag the work item title from the canvas to the first bullet.

Then I navigate to the end of the line, making sure that the cursor is no longer in the title field, strike enter and then tab to create a new child-node in my list. Drag the work item’s description to this new node. I do the same for the work item type and state so that I have the work item represented in my document the way I want subsequent work items to be referenced by my new skin.

Then highlight the whole work item reference, click the “Skins” button in the TeamSpec ribbon bar, and select “Create New Skin.” This will open the “Create New Skin” window.

Enter a name for your new skin in the first field. Verify the work item fields that you want represented in the second field. Choose the path at which you want your new skin saved from the drop-down menu in the final field. You can change this path with the Skin Manager. When you are ready, click create to save your new skin.

Your new skin will now be added to the list of available skins and will behave just like the default skins.

Importing Work Items Using Skins

There are two primary ways to bring a work item into your document with a skin: from the canvas or from a search. To import a skinned work item from the canvas, send the work item you are interested in to the canvas. Then click the “Skins” button and select a skin type. Your most recently used skins will be listed in the drop-down. If you want to use skin that isn’t listed, select “Browse for Skin…” and choose a skin from the open skin dialogue.

When you select a skin type, TeamSpec creates a formatted reference to the work item in your document according to the specifications of the skin.

To import a skinned work item from a search either perform a quick search or a query. Highlight the work item(s) that you want to bring into your document. Right-click on the work item(s), select “Skins” and choose a skin type. Like importing a work item from the canvas, your most recently used skins will be listed in the drop-down. If you want to use skin that isn’t listed, select “Browse for Skin…” and choose a skin from the open skin dialogue.

Note that unlike importing work items from the canvas, you can bring multiple work items into your documents from a search.

Creating Work Items in Skins

TeamSpec allows you to create a new work item and create a reference to it in your document at the same time. You can do this by adding a new, empty work item or by cloning an existing work item.

Adding a New, Skinned Work Item to your Document

To add a new skinned work item to your documents, click the “Skins” button on the TeamSpec tab of the ribbon bar and select "Insert Future WorkItem Skin."

This opens the “Insert TeamSpec Empty Skin” window. Select the skin you want to use to organize the fields of your new work item(s) in your document from the first drop-down menu. If you don’t see the skin you are looking for in the menu, click “Browse for Skin” and navigate to the skin that you desire. Choose the type of work item you want to create from the second drop-down menu. Finally designate how many work items of this type and skin you want to create in the final field. Click ok when you are finished.

Your new work item(s) will have new, empty references in your document and be added to the list on the index tab of the TeamSpec panel.

Enter text and choose items to specify the values of your new work item(s). Publish the work item(s) to save them to the server.

Cloning an Existing, Skinned Work Item

You can also create a new work item by cloning another skinned work item reference in your document. Choose a single work item reference that is organized in the same way you want your new work item organized. If that work item is referenced in a list, create a new node where you want to reference your new work item.

If the work item you are cloning is in a table, TeamSpec will automatically create the necessary new cells. Now highlight the work item reference you want to clone. Be sure that you have only highlighted the information from one work item. Then click the “Skins” button and choose “Empty Clone.”

Your new work item will have a new, empty reference in your document and be added to the list on the index tab of the TeamSpec panel.

Enter text and choose items to specify the values of your new work item(s). Publish the work item(s) to save them to the server.

Managing Skins

To manage your skins, click on the “Skins” button in the TeamSpec ribbon bar and select "Manage Skins." You can accomplish three tasks with the Skin Manager: deleting skins, setting skins to prepopulate certain work item fields with designated values, and adding or removing locations at which to save your skins. To delete a skin, select it from the drop-down menu at the top of the window, labeled “Skins:”, and click “Delete Skin.”

To set work item values that a skin will automatically include every time it is used, first select the skin from the “Skins:” drop-down menu. The fields specified by the skin that you choose will display in the center of the window where it says “Fields:”

Input a value to the right of a certain field to set it as a default for the skin. For instance, if you were creating a number of work items in TeamSpec all of which are assigned to the same person, you can set the skin to prepopulate the AssignedTo field with their name. TeamSpec’s skins can streamline your workflow by managing organization and content. To add a new location at which to save skins, click “Add” in the “Skin Paths” section at the bottom of the skin manager. Navigate to a new location and click “OK”. To remove a location from your skin paths, highlight the path and click the “Remove” button.

To finish and save your changes, click the “Close” button.

Conclusion

I hope that his has made the use and value of TeamSpec skins clear. If you have further questions or concerns contact us in our forum or at support@teamsystemsolutions.com

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